Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Winesburg, Ohio is on the 100 Best list and is the first from the list I’ve read in quite a while. By and large I haven’t been enjoying the books on that list all that much, not compared to recommendations from others or picking and choosing what appeals to me. Winesburg, Ohio is another one I feel lukewarm about. To me, it was a milder version of The Dubliners. Of course, I do realize Anderson was there first but Joyce did it better.
These are character sketches. You can’t call them short stories. There’s one character who keeps appearing over and over and by the end I guess you could say that there was a story about him, but mostly the chapters end just as you’re getting interested in the character and wanting to know what happens next. Then they fizzle out.
Considering the time and place, there’s a surprising amount of sex and sexual innuendo, including some regularly occurring homosexual undertones. Or maybe I just have a dirty mind.
I am reading this book right now and am enjoying it even though it seems, as you wrote, mostly a bunch of character sketches.